The lessons from last year’s abridged WBBL season have been absorbed and the heavyweights of Australian cricket agree that the key to success this year is to strike early and keep accelerating.
Amid an increasingly congested calendar, the trailblazing T20 competition was reduced to a month-long shoot out last year and will be played in a similar time frame through November and early December this year.
Watch every game of the 2025 Weber WBBL LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports. | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Champion cricketers Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney are determined to guide their respective franchises to glory in the 11th WBBL season that begins on Sunday. But they all agree it is important to start the season with a bang.
“It gets big on you pretty quick, the WBBL, so … if you can get momentum, either way, it’s pretty hard to stop whether you’re winning or losing, so hopefully early on, we can be on the right side of that,” said Mooney, who plays for the Perth Scorchers.
READ MORE
‘NO SECRETS’: How WBBL changed women’s cricket … and helped the world flip script on Aussies
‘SPARKED A FIRE IN ME’: Ex-Aussie star’s 138-day journey from delivery room to Big Bash
Lanning, who captained Australia to win the 2022 ODI World Cup but has since retired from international cricket, will lead the Melbourne Stars in their outing on Monday against the Adelaide Strikers and is a big fan of the new format.
“I mean (with) 10 games, there’s no time to ease into the tournament. You’ve got to be on from the start and I really like that. I think it’s good,” she told foxsports.com.au.
“From a pace perspective, every game’s meaningful. You’ve got to make sure you’re good to go. And I think from a fans perspective too, it’s really good, because when you’re watching games, there’s something on the line all the time. So I think that’s a really good element of the shorter season. I think it worked really well. And you’re playing more often, you don’t train that much, which suits me perfectly fine.”
The swifter season, which is about the length of a World Cup campaign, does raise challenges for captains when it comes to assessing the workloads of their attack, she said.
There is less downtime between matches for premier bowlers to recover, with the prospect of travelling from one side of Australia for a match within a couple of days adding to the challenge.
“I guess, particularly from the bowlers point of view, it’s sort of managing that and making sure that you’re able to get your energy up for the games and be ready to go for that, because they can come thick and fast in certain stages of the tournament,” Lanning said.
“So that sort of presents a new challenge, particularly to the young players coming into the system, who maybe haven’t experienced that before. But … I think overall, it makes so much sense and it’s a really good step forward for the comp to be slightly shorter.”
Sixers pick UK star Dunkley with pick 1 | 00:58
Healy is looking forward to having more involvement with the Sydney Sixers, which finished sixth last season and begin their campaign against the Hobart Hurricanes on Sunday.
They selected English all-rounder Sophia Dunkley with their first pick in the draft and have also added fellow English player Mady Villiers and New Zealand talent Amelia Kerr, while Ellyse Perry announced midway through the year she had committed to another contract extension.
“The Sixers this year look really good. I think we’ve looked really good on paper every year, but it probably just hasn’t clicked over the last few seasons,” Healy told Fox Cricket in September.
“I’m not (necessarily) the answer, but I haven’t really been a part of the last two WBBL seasons, so hopefully having some consistency at the top of the order will probably, hopefully, help us a little bit more. But it is a really good side (and) I’m really excited for, hopefully, what we can achieve.”
But Healy is aware it will not be easy to challenge the Melbourne Renegades, which are the reigning premiers, and others give the depth of talent in this year’s competition. The Australian skipper suspects it might be the best edition of the WBBL yet.
“In all honesty, looking around the squads’ lists, there’s a lot of good teams out there and this could be the tightest one yet,” Healy said.
“The schedule being a little bit more condensed, with less games, means if you’re on a roll, you’ve got to stay on a roll to make that final series. And then once you get to the finals, anything can happen. So if you can find your groove early on and cash in, you’ll be right.”
Perry re-signs with Sydney Sixers | 00:40
Mooney, who moved to Perth to play with the Scorchers five years ago, is confident there is enough depth in the squad from the west to improve on their fifth-placed finish last year.
The Scorchers lured Katie Mack from the Strikers to open alongside Mooney in a boost for Perth’s batting depth, while the Aussie star identified Chloe Ainsworth and Ebony Hoskin as young talents capable of propelling the side up the ladder.
“The Scorchers have been amazing for me and my career over the last few years,” she said.
“I think they’re a great organisation with quality people and it is a great ground to bat on as well at the WACA. So I’m pretty lucky I get to do that every other week in the WBBL season.
“But you know, we’ve probably let ourselves down a little bit in the last couple of years with finals and not quite getting over the line when we’ve needed to, so I’m hoping that the injection of a few more players (will help).
“Katie Mack is obviously coming in to be at the top of the order with me and Soph Devine’s coming into her own with the ball and is a great leader. Chloe Ainsworth is on the rise as well, so we have got a number of players who, across the season of WBBL, can have a huge impact on the results for us, so hopefully we get in early with a few wins and carry on the momentum through the season.
“Chloe’s sort of come into her own a bit over the last probably two years, taking the competition by storm, taking some big wickets. She is a bit of a fiery character on the field, so competitive, but (she is as) soft as butter off the field. So she’s a great teammate, Chloe, and I’m sure her stocks are on the rise.”
Matthews magic as Renegades reign! | 04:11
Similarly Lanning believes the Melbourne Stars will improve after managing only two wins last year when clinching the wooden spoon in the competition.
The Stars have added English pair Amy Jones and Dani Gibson, along with Marizanne Kapp from South Africa, and Lanning believes they have a better balance for this campaign.
“I think we’ve put together a really nice list. We had a disappointing year last year. We’ve got a little bit of room for improvement there and a bit of a point to prove,” she said.
“I think we’ve got some really talented players, but we just haven’t been able to put it together, which is frustrating. It’s not through lack of effort. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes.
“We sort of feel like we’ve added some new players to our list who fill some gaps that maybe we needed to fill, and we got some strong domestic talent as well, so we’re excited about the opportunity.
“We’re expecting to play well and get ourselves through to the finals. I think every team would say that, but I think it’s not unrealistic with the squad that we’ve gotten. If we can click as a group, I think that’s a really good target.”
She also expects further improvement from Rhys McKenna and Sophie Reid, while Annabel Sutherland will return from the World Cup duties to add further power to the Stars.
“We’ve got Rhys McKenna (and) I think she’s a really big one,” Lanning said.
“She’s extremely talented, can contribute in all three facets of the game and is a real match winner. That’s really crucial in T20 cricket, so she’s going to play an on-field role for us.
“We’ve got Sophie Reid as well, who’s played a few games for the Stars, and I think she’s ready to take the game on a little bit more and play a key role. So it’s nice to have those domestic players as well to play some roles. I think they’re really important.
“You’ve got your internationals and your Australian players who do most of the heavy lifting, and they should do that, but you need some contributions from the domestic players as well. I think we’ve got the squad to do that.”
Discussion about this post